Madison Ave. Collective

Challenges

Led by Yamhill Community Care, and in collaboration with numerous local agencies and nonprofit organizations, FamilyCore’s mission is to support and strengthen families with young children. As a referral agency, FamilyCore needed to establish its own brand while also communicating how the organization interacts with these other entities and fits within the larger system. They also needed to identify and address issues with their partner referral process.

Limited formal communication channels, lack of access to high-speed internet in rural areas, and cultural differences all served to make communication with parents and families difficult on a large scale within Yamhill County. FamilyCore needed help choosing effective and diversified communication channels for varying purposes and target audiences.

Importantly, they needed to increase overall awareness within the community and improve their outreach methods to Spanish-speaking families. They also needed to overcome misconceptions about some of the services offered, such as home visiting. Finally, FamilyCore’s communications needed to address the general distrust of the government by some of those within FamilyCore’s target audience.

Results

Our ultimate goal was to establish a brand identity and set of communication tools that would clearly and concisely show how FamilyCore’s services can benefit families with young children — then invite them to apply for program benefits.

Yamhill County is a diverse community with varying needs. As branding and communication efforts were being developed, these diverse communities needed to be represented, both in the methods and mediums of communication as well as the accessibility of the communication, including translations into Spanish.

Following our in-depth research phase of work, we led a half-day messaging workshop with our client’s stakeholders. We then refined a messaging suite that includes:

• A positioning statement and tagline that clearly and quickly differentiates FamilyCore from other similar organizations and agencies.
• Key messaging for various target audiences, including elevator pitches for referents and service providers
• Co-branding messaging relating to FamilyCore’s relationship with partner organizations

To guide the brand launch, we created a 12-month Marketing & Communications Plan with advertising and promotional strategies including traditional and social media, the development of print materials, and a marketing calendar keep FamilyCore’s outreach efforts on track.

With the core messaging defined, we designed a vibrant and flexible brand identity system (see brand book). Using colorful shapes and patterns inspired by apple seeds, we developed templates for print and marketing materials including bilingual posters in English and Spanish. We also delivered letterhead, business cards, and social media graphics.

Lastly, we designed and developed a custom website (see yamhillfamilycore.org) that meets WCAG accessibility standards for government-funded websites in the state of Oregon. The site includes a HIPAA compliant lead-generation form for parents to express interest in receiving services. There’s also a quick and easy toggle to translate the entire website from English to Spanish.

We appreciate Madison Ave. Collective for their promptness, their professionalism, and their attention to detail. But most of all we value the fact that they took the time to listen deeply to the varied opinions of multiple stakeholders and mold those into a product that everyone was happy to claim as their own.